NDCA Syllabus Online (not really)

[flying_backwards]

I personally uploaded the videos onto NDCA's YT page.

Thank you for doing that.

My partner and I, and our friends in class, have often exchanged links to those videos after class so we could better prepare for practice. We do also have shoe boxes full of DVDs. And we have highlighted, annotated and bookmarked little grey books. Because our time with our teacher is better spent on HOW to do the figures, than what the figures are. I love the plain vanilla "textbooky" NDCA YT videos because they are so boiled-down bare-bones. These videos combined with the book allow us to take responsibility for that part of our learning. There are so many aspects of technique for which we need our teachers there with us physically that we do not want to use a precious 45 minutes having them call out "forward side back" or "heeltoe toe toeheel." If we don't hit an alignment it is because we lack skill to execute our intention, not knowledge. YT will never replace teachers.

OP: I do get that this thread is about smooth silver not being included. Sorry to go on a tangent. I just wanted to acknowledge the contribution for what was included.

 

[DanceMentor]

Thank you for doing that.

My partner and I, and our friends in class, have often exchanged links to those videos after class so we could better prepare for practice. We do also have shoe boxes full of DVDs. And we have highlighted, annotated and bookmarked little grey books. Because our time with our teacher is better spent on HOW to do the figures, than what the figures are. I love the plain vanilla "textbooky" NDCA YT videos because they are so boiled-down bare-bones. These videos combined with the book allow us to take responsibility for that part of our learning. There are so many aspects of technique for which we need our teachers there with us physically that we do not want to use a precious 45 minutes having them call out "forward side back" or "heeltoe toe toeheel." If we don't hit an alignment it is because we lack skill to execute our intention, not knowledge. YT will never replace teachers.

OP: I do get that this thread is about smooth silver not being included. Sorry to go on a tangent. I just wanted to acknowledge the contribution for what was included.

Yes, absolutely. The videos were well done. What better way to acknowledge that than to finish the project!

 

[Dancing Irishman]

My question to you is why not go direct to the source, ISTD, and learn from their videos?

1) Not on youtube, that I could find. The NDCA channel was the first hit when I searched "ISTD Latin Syllabus" on youtube.
2) Based on 1, I'm assuming I'd need to pay for them. Why do that when perfectly good references are there for free?

 

[flying_backwards]

1) Why do that when perfectly good references are there for free?

Because those NDCA syllabus reference ones on YT are just the tip of the iceberg. Real instruction videos run thru each figure lots of times, once for the "Left foot forward, right foot to side, left foot back" call-out, once for the timing, once for the footwork, once for the body actions or partner positions, separately gent and lady and together, and with music. And there is discussion, or "Key Points". The NDCA syllabus on YT is just a dictionary of figure names with the figures danced once-only, in partner, as absolutely simply as possible to still be recognizable. Not just the tip of the iceberg but just the tip of the beak of the bird perched on the ice berg.

Oh gosh - just realized you might have been joking. Sorry if I am over-answering. Hard to detect sarcasm in text. I do tend to take it all sooo seriously.

 

[JudeMorrigan]

Seriously though, my use case for them was less to *learn* things and more for "why is this thing we worked on during our last lesson not working? Oh, derp. I'm supposed to go outside partner here. That ... would make an awful lot of sense and is probably something I was told a half dozen times in the lesson." sort of stuff.

Anyhoo, I just want to reiterate that I'm not looking for more stuff to be posted, just expressing gratitude for past efforts.

 

[Purr]

For example, I have no idea what a "sitting hen" or "horse and cart" are.

Found this on another thread:

Horse and Cart is the man in sort of a sitting position with double hand hold leading the lady to run around him. Sitting hen is kind of the opposite where the lady is in the sitting position, but can have various shapes as the man runs around. Standing spin is in closed position, where one partner is the center of the spin while the other runs around, if the lady is in the center they can again have various shapes. Pot stir is where the lady is in a low sort of crouching position as the man gives her a few fast stirs (it seems the more spins she makes, and the faster they are, the more crowd pleasing this figure is). I've also seen pot stirs used in rumba, so you may recognize the figure from there.

 

[snapdancer]

Thanks Purr. I did some Googling and YouTubing but was not able to find this information.

It was suggested that if I want to know what these figures are, then I should book a lesson. Well, if wanted learn how to perform these figures then I would book a lesson (or more probably lots of lessons). But if I just want to know what it is, how to recognize it if someone else does it, I'm much less willing to shell out money. NDCA and USA Dance have the same rule. Rules should be clear. Not knowing what these figures are despite a treasure hunt for their definition, how do I or anyone else know that they aren't a different name for the same figure on some teaching video?

I don't think the YouTube videos that NDCA has put out are giving away the store. No one is going to learn the figures demonstrated just from watching the videos. (Although some may try). And these organizations wouldn't have to create videos to explain their rules, some words sort of like what Mengu said could do the trick.

 

[DanceMentor]

The NDCA has a significant impact on ballroom dancing in America. As a result they will be scrutinized. That is normal. Whether or not the owe anyone anything is neither here nor there.

 

[Purr]

Thanks Purr. I did some Googling and YouTubing but was not able to find this information.

I did a search on Bing, parameters were "Sitting Hen Horse Cart Dancesport". A link to the thread on Dance Forums came up. I found Mengu's post on the thread.

 

[Purr]

The NDCA list of patterns was simply meant for NDCA competitors. And certified NDCA professionals know what these patterns are.

I'm not sure I get the gist of what this thread is about, but I'm intrigued by the terms, and I always like learning new things.

Update:

I found a video clip online which demonstrated horse and cart, sitting hen and pot stirrer which was informative. The clip was on The Dance Store Online. A link should pop up using the Bing search parameters I described earlier.

 

[Loki]

Geez, why didn't I think of that? Phone record some short clips for fast personal reference. Have to see how the quality turns out.

 

[Joe]

Maybe the issue is that Organization X calls a certain pattern Move A, but Organization Y calls it Move B, and NDCA calls it Move C?

 

[rels77]

Keep in mind NDCA does not represent students. It is an association of dance teachers and companies. Therefore it's mission isn't to make things easier for students or Ams in pro-ams. When they do, it's nice an all, but pros pay membership fees to NDCA to advocate for them. The pros are the clients, not us.

 

[Mr 4 styles]

Unless you pay dues to dance am am.

 

[DanceMentor]

It could be said that the NDCA is a governing body for which students and teachers pay a form of tax if they wish to participate at dance at competitions. Fees charged by teachers are invariably passed on to students.

Interestingly, some of the largest and most profitable competitions are owned by the same people who have the highest positions in the NDCA.

Would be interesting to cover the process for which the officials are elected, or appointed and their term lengths. Maybe worthy of another thread.